Documentation
OpenGL's popularity is partially due to the quality of its official documentation. The OpenGL ARB released a series of manuals along with the specification which have been updated to track changes in the API. These are almost universally known by the colors of their covers:
- The Red Book
- OpenGL Programming Guide, 7th edition. ISBN 0-321-55262-8
- A readable tutorial and reference book – this is a 'must have' book for OpenGL programmers.
- The Green Book
- OpenGL Programming for the X Window System. ISBN 0-201-48359-9
- A book about X11 interfacing and GLUT.
- The Blue Book
- OpenGL Reference manual, 4th edition. ISBN 0-321-17383-X
- Essentially a hard-copy printout of the man pages for OpenGL.
- Includes a poster-sized fold-out diagram showing the structure of an idealised OpenGL implementation.
- The Alpha Book (white cover)
- OpenGL Programming for Windows 95 and Windows NT. ISBN 0-201-40709-4
- A book about interfacing OpenGL with Microsoft Windows.
Then, for OpenGL 2.0 and beyond:
- The Orange Book
- OpenGL Shading Language, 3rd edition. ISBN 0-321-63763-1
- A readable tutorial and reference book for GLSL.
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